BOOKS FOR ALL YOUR LITTLE MONSTERS

We've got a Highway Rat, a Gangsta Granny and a dragon who won't go to sleep. SALLY MORRIS recommends these and a host of other colourful characters in this selection of children's books

FICTION Aged 2-5 years

BLACK DOG BY LEVI PENFOLD (Templar £12.99)

When a black dog the size of a Tyrannosaurus Rex arrives outside the Hope house, the parents and children are terrified by its steaming nostrils and huge teeth. All except the youngest child, Small, who opens the door and faces up to the terrifying beast. She leads him on a chase through the snowy woods and across a frozen river and as he follows, he shrinks. By the time they return home, the dog is normal size and snuggles up with the family.

The underlying emotional message about confronting your fears is so skilfully and entertainingly conveyed that this stunningly illustrated book works on a very deep level as well as being a reassuring bedtime read.

The award-winning combination of Donaldson and Scheffler (The Gruffalo, Stick Man) based this book on Alfred Noyes’ poem The Highwayman - and the galloping rhythms of the original provide the perfect soundtrack for this lovely tale.

The Highway Rat is driven by greed - ‘he took what he wanted and ate what he took’ - waylaying animal travellers and stealing their hard-earned food. But a clever duck, in fear of her life, leads him into a dark echoing cave from where he emerges, chastened, to start a new life.

Donaldson’s ear for rhyme is unequalled and Scheffler’s busy, funny illustrations make this ideal for reading aloud with lots of voices and chances to join in.

Age 3+

AGAIN BY EMILY GRAVETT (Macmillan £10.99)

Parents will give a wry smile of recognition at the increasing weariness and frustration of the mother dragon who has to read the same story again and again because baby dragon, Cedric, won’t go to sleep. She changes the words in a subtle ploy to encourage doziness but when she drops off herself, Cedric’s uncontrolled tantrum has surprising consequences….

This is yet another delightful book from the hugely talented Gravett, with bags of personality oozing from the dragons, bright red and green contrast illustrations, a clever little story and a witty novelty ending. Good enough to read again and again, in fact.

Age 3+

THE KING OF QUIZZICAL ISLAND DIGS THROUGH THE WORLD BY GORDON SNELL, WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY DAVID MCKEE (Walker Books £11.99)

It’s been a long wait for this second King of Quizzical Island romp - but well worth it. Snell takes us along on a fantastical journey with his imaginative king, who is determined to prove to his sceptical courtiers that the world is round - by digging through to the other side. En route he encounters a Skeleton King of Bones, a Giant of the Underworld and dinosaurs and dragons responsible for earthquakes and volcanoes.

The Lear-like rhyming text is longer than most picture books so independent readers will love it too, and McKee’s expressive line drawings - only the exploring King is in colour - perfectly complement the topsy-turvy world.

The brilliant Aliens In Underpants pair have dreamed up a big, bold thriller of a picture book in which little Monty-the-Inventor creates a monster. But, like Dr Frankenstein, he discovers that monsters don’t always do as they are told….

Very bright, colourful illustrations of imaginative monsters to entertain even the youngest children are matched with a jolly, lively rhyme and with lots of smelly socks, mouldy cheese, bellybutton fluff and a good fight to get them giggling, this is a guaranteed favourite. And the teasing ending promises there are more adventures in the pipeline...

Age 2+

FICTION Aged 6–9 years

It’s a daunting task to write a sequel to Ian Fleming’s Chitty Chitty Bang Bang but there couldn’t be a more inspired choice than Cottrell Boyce, whose versatility and verve sweep all doubts aside in this fast and furious road trip.

The story is updated: Dad has lost his job and teenage, black-clad Lucy, anxious Jem and toddler Harry are appalled when Mum buys a 1966 VW camper van to travel the world. But when Dad accidentally fits the engine from the original CCBB car, they begin a wildly imaginative adventure as the old car scoots around the globe, reconstructing itself, pursued by arch enemies Tiny Jack and Nanny.

Fasten your seats belts as an anarchic sense of humour, technical wizardry, devilish deceit and lots of family banter all fire like perfectly-tuned spark plugs in this truly scrumptious offering.

Ben’s dismissive contempt for his elderly, Scrabble-playing, cabbage-stinking Granny - with whom he is forced to spend a night a week - is radically revised when he discovers she was once a renowned jewel thief. She has one big heist left in her - the Crown Jewels - and only Ben can help.

A preposterous idea becomes a rollicking reality as Granny and Ben take on the Tower of London, and even meet the Queen…. But this really is Granny’s last outing and Ben faces up to losing someone he has only just learned to appreciate.

In this gem of a book, Walliams balances high comedy with an emotional message: Ben recognises the value of Gran’s wisdom and love and his neglectful parents realise that Ben must fulfill his own dreams, not theirs.

Buy it for your grandchildren.

Age 7+

THE SLEEPING ARMY BY FRANCESCA SIMON (Faber/Profile Books £9.99)

Simon is best known for her Horrid Henry books but this is a much more demanding read and succeeds on all counts.

In modern Britain people still worship the old Viking Gods and when young Freya disobeys her museum guard father and blows on the ancient Heimdall’s Horn, she awakes enchanted pieces from the historic Lewis Chessman who transport her back to Asgard, the land of the Viking Gods.

Freya is set a life-or-death challenge that takes her through the Norse mythology with all its thunderous revenge, betrayals and Hellish dramas yet finds a courage and feisty defiance to carry her through.

Simon blends historical detail with contemporary, funny dialogue and creates in Freya a genuinely believable heroine who yearns for excitement and security in equal measure.

Age 8+

THE GIANT BOOK OF GIANTS BY SAVIOUR PIROTTA, ILLUSTRATED BY MARK ROBERTSON (Egmont £14.99)

There’s no point trying to cram this in the Christmas stocking – it’s a giant book in every way! A large format story book with six tales, including Jack and the Beanstalk and Sinbad as well as ones that will be new to young readers.

But the added dimension is a huge, sturdy poster of a kilted giant to hang on the wall, with pop-ups, flaps and nuggets of ogre information. Pull out his earwax or delve his pockets to discover what lies hidden.

FICTION Aged 9-14 years

Fans of Child’s Clarice Bean stories will be familiar with the name of Ruby Redfort, who now stars in her own series - and a cracking first adventure this is.

Thirteen-year-old Ruby is a brilliant code breaker and amateur detective who is recruited by secret agency SPECTRUM to help break an impenetrable code after an agent is killed. She is trained by the elusive agent, Hutch, but cannot tell even her best friend, Clance, what she’s up to. There’s missing gold, mystical Buddhas, kidnappings and edge-of-your seat last-minute escapes.

This is a marvellous romp of a book, packed with action, villains, eccentric and embarrassing parents, superb gadgets and some perplexing codes to solve.

Child excels at creating rounded central characters full of spikey defiance, wild imagination and touching loyalty to friends and supports them with a thrilling cast of adversaries.

Age 10+

LIESL AND PO BY LAUREN OLIVER (Hodder & Stoughton £9.99)

Lauren Oliver is best known for her young adult fiction (Before I Fall) but this first novel for younger readers, with rich black and white illustrations, is an absolute delight. Oliver was inspired to write this by the death of her best friend and the raw authenticity of her grieving seeps from every page.

Eleven-year-old Liesl’s adored father has died after a mysterious illness and her stepmother keeps her imprisoned in an attic. Outside, the sun has disappeared.

One night, a shadowy young ghost named Po appears from The Other Side, where the dead go before crossing over to Beyond. Liesl begs him to find her father to say she loves and misses him.

Meanwhile Sam, a young alchemist’s assistant, has accidentally swapped the box containing Liesl’s father’s ashes with a box of powerful magic. When Liesl and Po decide to escape with her father’s ‘ashes’, they become the centre of a hunt led by a cast of greedy, cruel and deceitful enemies.

The story is packed with mystery, murder, adventure, humour and magic but mostly it is the most beautiful evocation of loss, tempered by the gradual blossoming of friendship, trust and hope.

Although aimed at younger readers, the lightness of touch and the tenderness of the message could make grown men weep.

Age 10+

THE HIDDEN KINGDOM BY IAN BECK (Oxford University Press £6.99)

Between the stunning covers of this remarkable book throbs an ancient tale of evil, legend, love, duty and warring forces that quite takes one’s breath away.

In this highly imaginative epic, set in an Oriental landscape, the pampered young Prince Osamu is ripped from his luxurious palace as evil forces approach, and led into hiding by his nurse’s daughter, Lissa.

As secret armies defend their ancient land from the ruthless demons, Osamu’s fate lies partly with Lissa and partly in the hands of a young trainee potter, charged by his dying master to find the Prince.

Osamu learns harsh and swift lessons in responsibility, love and survival from them both.

There are several episodes of quite bloody violence that the faint-hearted may want to skip, but also haunting, mystical undertones that echo the oral storytelling on which so many Eastern tales are based.

In the land of Albion twelve-year-old Lettie runs the threadbare White Horse Inn, with only the gusting wind for company, while her feckless father runs up gambling debts. Her mother disappeared when Lettie was tiny, leaving her with a note warning of dangers, but promising she would return to save her life.

One day a mysterious stranger arrives, promising to make Lettie’s fortune with his new invention, never before seen in Albion: glistening, freezing snow fluttering down from his Snow Cloud.

The Snow Merchant is quickly exposed as a crook - but he reveals that he knows Lettie’s mother so as he escapes she chases him across magical landscapes.

The mystery of what happened to her mother and how she has kept her promise to protect Lettie is handled with great skill and there’s a satisfyingly happy ending.

This is a very promising debut novel from Gayton, full of fairytale and fun, which should appeal to Lemony Snicket fans.

Age 10+

LILY BY HOLLY WEBB (Orchard Books £5.99)

From the author of the popular Rose titles, comes a new series featuring sisters who must hide their magical powers. Since the Queen banned all magic, Lily, her sister Georgie and their mother live in exile on an island, while their father rots in jail in London for protesting against the ban. Hell-bent on revenge, their mother is forcing reluctant Georgie to learn the dark arts - but Lily discovers the true depth of her mother’s cruelty and the girls escape to London.

This is a promising first adventure as the girls are pursued by their own unforgiving mother and Lily realises that she herself has the stronger powers….

The sisters are finely balanced characters and there are some clever magical moments.

Age 9+

NON-FICTION

PREDATORS BY STEVE BACKSHALL (Orion £12.99)

Did you know a chameleon could move its eyes separately so that it can search for two meals at the same time? Or that the mimic octopus can twist its arms and body to imitate the bodies of about 15 other animals? Or that there could be as many as 50,000 species of spiders?

Spend an afternoon with this highly illustrated, fact-filled book by BBC wildlife expert Backshall, and you’ll quickly become an expert on the fiercest, fastest, most poisonous animals in the world. And never walk through long grass or go swimming again ….

Age 6+

HOW TO CHANGE THE WORLD WITH A BALL OF STRING BY TIM COOKE (Scholastic £10.99)

Who could resist a title like this? This quirky history book looks at how random acts or discoveries have contributed to major changes or periods in history.

So, by teaching his Mongol cavalry to shoot arrows backwards while on horseback, Ghengis Khan’s army conquered Asia. And the Black Death meant the surviving workers could bargain up their wages and conditions. And the ball of string? The Incas developed a system of recording population and food supplies using a code of knotted string. Simple.

There are plenty of adult books being published for the bicentenary of Dickens’ birth but this is an accessible introduction for young children to the author’s life and work.

His traumatic early years working in a factory, his father’s imprisonment, his early work as a journalist and his trips to America are all linked to his fiction and placed in the context of fast-changing Victorian society.

Bite-sized information, cartoon strips and speech bubbles break up the pages, which are illustrated in full colour.

CLASSICS AND COLLECTIONS

Nothing like a cautionary tale for wagging a finger at badly behaved children - except this zinging collection of 26 modern warning verses is such fun that no lessons will ever be learned.

Bubblegum Pete floats away ‘where silly boys crying for help can’t be heard’, while Felicity Finch, who ‘was prone to pinch’ finds a lobster takes revenge on her nose. Parents of toddlers will identify with the struggle of trying to dress Icy Clare, who will run off in her underwear…. Ross’s cartoony illustrations add to the mayhem.

Another perfect collaboration between Willis and Ross, whose ability to make children laugh simply can’t be bettered.

Age 5+

GOLDILOCKS ON CCTV BY JOHN AGARD, ILLUSTRATED BY SATOSHI KITAMURA (Frances Lincoln £12.99)

Don’t be misled by the title or cover – this isn’t a collection of fairy stories for toddlers but a brilliantly subversive series of poems for teens from the pen of award-winning poet Agard.

Using traditional tales as his base he delivers a street-wise, rapping Puss-in-Trainers, a Sleeping Beauty besieged by the paparazzi and a Golden Goose on a talent show. Some are funny, some poignant, such as the plea from an under-appreciated stepmother or the upbeat Ugly Sisters, but a few – Not My Uncle Bluebeard for example - are quite dark and genuinely challenging.

Morpurgo is such a gifted storyteller that he manages to deliver the underlying darkness of this old fable with contemporary relevance, as the poor children and adults of Hamelin scavenge for scraps in the alleyways while the rich live insulated in their gated mansions.

The crippled boy narrator is street wise and cunning but his description of the piper’s music seeping into his body is genuinely moving.

The full colour illustrations are full of expression and detail and the message of honesty, decency and fairness comes ringing from the pages.